"Thank you, Anderson, for revealing yet another weakness for me to exploit in our rematch,” Sonnen said, or emailed as it seems. “Beating that poor punching bag doesn’t impress Uncle Chael, guy. You tipped your hand like a chump poker player at a $5 table in Atlantic City. You may have beaten Vitor, but in the process, you LOST your edge. By beating that husk, you gave me the last page of your playbook. Revel in your time, (because) it ENDS the night you face me. I will mow you down like autumn wheat, AGAIN."

Yeah, at this point, Sonnen’s patter is starting to feel pretty desperate. He’s like a serial killer who just keeps confessing to made-up crimes because the thing that scares him most is that people will lose interest in him. Also, we already know that his opinions are as malleable as a Roman gladiator’s sexuality, but referring to Belfort as “that poor punching bag” and “that husk” constitutes a 180-degree turnabout from what he said about “The Phenom” almost a year ago to the day.

To put it in perspective we have to take the Way Back Machine to UFC 109. At the time, Sonnen had just surprised us all by stomping a mudhole in Nate Marquardt and his name was being bandied about as a possible next opponent for the winner of Silva vs. Belfort … which was supposed to go down at UFC 112. Oh, those were heady days, friends. Anyhoo, on Feb. 9, 2010, Sonnen told MMA Junkie he was hoping to fight Silva, because he considered Belfort the much more difficult opponent.

"I hope Anderson wins because I think Vitor is a lot tougher fighter," Sonnen said. "If I had to choose between the two, I’m going to take the low road and take the easier opponent to the championship … I really do think Vitor Belfort, in truth, has never lost a fight in the stand-up realm. The blueprint to beat Vitor is out there, but it’s not to stand up with him."

New blueprint: Kick him in the face.

Sonnen’s latest comments come just a few days after UFC President Dana White told MMA Fighting there is still no timetable for his return. White will no doubt wait until Sonnen’s sentencing hearing on March 28 to see if a federal judge honors a plea agreement with prosecutors that is expected to net him mere probation.

“We still have to see what happens with all his personal problems," White said.

Shit man, by March 28, Jon Jones will be the light heavyweight champion (further stoking the public fire to see him fight Silva) and we’ll be neck deep in prayers that that assholeJake Shields doesn’t screw up Dana’s plans for a GSP-Anderson superfight. Gotta wonder if Uncle Chael might have missed his window here.

Showing 1-25 of comments

Say as you will. Sonnen did what noone else ever has. Took the fight to silva for 5 rounds. Blame roids. Blame injury, bandwagon away. He exposed spider. Rematch and see what happens from a safe distance. Seriously. Until a real dr tests sonnen and says b.s. I remain a fan of the 1 guy who tested silva.

Armchair away.

Tardjitsu- February 7, 2011 at 3:26 pm

To the people who are arguing that Chael is not cheating, you are correct...technically. The tricky thing about HRT is that a man's "normal" testosterone levels is highly subjective. Are we talking about a 20 something man who eats lightning and shits thunder? Or are we talking about an older man with a tiny baby penis and shriveled up raisins for balls...I.E. Mr. Sonnen. A man's testosterone level drops off as he ages. It's normal. It's natural. Now, boosting your "Low T," as it is called, is very unnatural. Akin to boosting a fighter's ability to take blows to the head by wearing a WWII Nazi helmet in the ring. Lastly, testosterone is a steroid. BY DEFINITION. Quit popping off loads on pics of Chael, put down that little thing you call a penis, and pick up a science book.

fatbellyfrank- February 7, 2011 at 2:54 pm

I normally dont give much of a shit about fighter persona's and stuff, but Sonnen comes across to me as a very unlikeable human

fatbellyfrank- February 7, 2011 at 2:54 pm

I normally dont give much of a shit about fighter perona's and stuff, but Sonnen comes across to me as a very unlikeable human

DangadaDang- February 7, 2011 at 2:41 pm

Sonen fails to realize that every other fight he has he exposes himself as someone who can't defend triangle chokes no matter how many he gets tapped with.

FosikInsanity- February 7, 2011 at 2:07 pm

Listen, regardless of how much chael talks shit, did he not back up every word he said. (minus the win.) Oh and Anderson's rib injury? you mean the one that was narrowly talked about before the fight because it was quite literally nothing but then got blew up for all Anderson Silva fan boys as an excuse as to why he got shit on the whole 5 rounds? Silva must take lessons from josh koshcheck on injury severity. He took more hits , more take downs, and was dazed more in 117 then all of his ufc fights combined ( now including vitor. ) not to mention his classic comment "He says i have never fought any good wrestler's i fought dan henderson and i consider him one of the best, chael will not take me down.) Nice one andy, real smooth.

The fact of the matter is, you can talk all day about how chael's elevated testosterone and andys rib injury can be blamed for his beat down, fact of the matter is, chael is the only fighter ever to man handle silva and completely negate his striking aspect and not bitch out and stare at him on the feet resulting in a sparta kick to the dome. nuff said. Chael is still the biggest piece of shit in the UFC though.

RwilsonR- February 7, 2011 at 1:53 pm

@ Get Off Me - yeah, De Rocha looked great in that first round! But I always am worried about a BJJ guy against a strong wrestler. Although, I though Rocha would look better in the stand-up. Oh well.

Also, I can see where you're coming from on the 'beating' Chael gave Anderson, and I don't think it was the worst beating I've ever seen, but I think it was worse than you let on. There were some big blows mixed in there from when Chael would dive down from a standing position, and a lot of those punches add up. Either way, Chael was in control. That being said, I do not particularly like Anderson as a person and enjoy watching him get beat on, but I think it is pretty obvious that his rib injury was real that night. He did not look like himself, and not just because Chael out-wrestled him. Everything looked off that night, and I think that had a lot to do with why Chael did so well.

@ twoleftfeet - Totally agree. The biggest thing I took away from the CSAC hearing (actually, pretty much all CSAC hearings we have seen) is that the rules should be crystal clear, and the processes should be clarified. Chael may have purposely not disclosed everything, but the CSAC officials couldn't even agree on their disclosure policies. That is crap! There should be clear rules that are easy to follow and understand. If there aren't, you can't fault the fighters after the fact for slipping through the holes in the rules they have haphazardly put together.

twoleftfeet- February 7, 2011 at 1:01 pm

@rwilsonr

I agree with your take. Hrt or trt should not be allowed. I held this against chael but you make a good point when you say legal is legal. Let's hope the ufc and or athletic commisions take a look at this though and ban it. Or at least make the fighters and drs do a more complete job explaining why its medically needed. It doesn't take a genius to see that chael or as somebody else mentioned, duffee, probably really doesnt need it or if they do its because they have used steriods illegaly and are on their off cycle.

Morningwood- February 7, 2011 at 12:54 pm

I suggest that before Sonnen fights Silva again. Sonnen trains with Seagal and learns how to throw a punch that leaves at least a mark on his opponent.

If Bisping is the biggest head puncher pussy. Then Chael is a close second.

imabigfan- February 7, 2011 at 12:44 pm

anyone catch an accent in chael's response?

Get Off Me- February 7, 2011 at 12:43 pm

@Just some dong
I agree he deserves a rematch, but I think the fight would have more steam if Sonnen was coming off a win going into the fight, maybe even two wins ideally.
@RwilsonR
i pussied out on De Rocha at the last minute, was kicking myself for the first round of the fight...

I don't get the whole Chael beating on Silva for four rounds, where is the evidence that Silva took a beating, Silva is not a wrestler and is comfortable working from his guard, hence the end of the fight and how it finished.
I think the audience has been conditioned to believe that as long as a fighter is on top he is dominating the fight. A wrestler inside the guard for four rounds landing pitty pat punches may win a fight, but it is far from dominating when you look at his opponents skill set and perhaps allow yourself to believe that the fighter on the bottom is not in as much trouble as you may think he is.

RearNakedSpoon- February 7, 2011 at 12:38 pm

haha brilliant title. He is the best troll in all of MMA.

RwilsonR- February 7, 2011 at 12:27 pm

Honestly, I don't have time to look back through all of the Sonnen/CSAC shit today, but there was a lot of misunderstanding going on even during the hearing. Admittedly, my memory of the specifics isn't at a level where I feel comfortable saying you guys are wrong, so I won't argue the point. But I do remember that the elevated levels aren't necessarily the problem, because of the type of TRT administered, and the nature of testing for natural vs. sythetic levels in his system. Anyway, my point was more that the crime was more of a paperwork crime, and not a 'banned substance' crime. I would agree that all HRT should be banned, and if you can't naturally produce it anymore, then maybe this isn't the sport for you to compete in professionally. But if it was legal, it was legal. He should be knocked for the disclosure, but not kicked out of the rankings when he returns.

@ Get Off Me - Nice work on making some $! I love Franklin, but size made the difference. You prety much called everything else, if I remember. I made a little, but didn't come out as much as I would have liked. I backed off of some of the bigger fights because I was unsure about how some guys would be coming off long lay-offs. Could have made more, but I should be happy anytime I come out ahead.

mtnthc- February 7, 2011 at 12:22 pm

Oh my aching shriveled nuts,...

Get Off Me- February 7, 2011 at 12:10 pm

@RwilsonR
Thank you first and foremost for helping me make a few dimes this week....going into this card I had posted some picks, you concurred but somewhat challenged Franklin and got me to rethink that fight a little more...hope you hit something too.
My thought on HRT being allowed obviously is NO, simply based on the theory of natural selection.
Not checking a box and all is one thing, I saw the comission meeting with Sonnen, what I understood was that Sonnen did not want to disclose this information, of course conversations with high level officials may have spured Sonnen to intentionally leave fields blank on his fighter forms, the comission established that he consciously omitted his testosterone injections and did not bring them forward when he should have....verbal warning to one comissioner is not sufficient to me.
I think the error the CSAC admits to is not having provisions for fighters like Chael who will inevitably test positive due to HRT, not having an exemption for fighters who fall under HRT.

agentsmith- February 7, 2011 at 12:09 pm

@ RwilsonR:

Don't be fooled. The CSAC said his testosterone levels were well above normal. Meanwhile his doctor claimed that he needs TRT just to return his levels to the LOW side of normal. In other words, his TRT prescription does not explain the level of testosterone that he pissed hot for. I'm no doctor, but my interpretation is that at the very least that means he was taking more testosterone than he legitimately needed for his little balls.

fACE7biter- February 7, 2011 at 12:05 pm

@KarmaAteMyCat
Finally a sensible person. CHAEL DIDN"T DO STEROIDS YOU FUCKING IDIOTS! Theres clear as fucking day paper work clearly stating that he let the CSAC know he was taking testerone for a legit medical condition. Testerone is not steroids! One your body produces naturally, one it doesn't! Far as Silvas rib injury, if it was that fucking bad, he wouldn't have fought! What do you think, that overprotective manager of his would want his star client getting pounded out and losing his title if he was legitmately injured? No he wouldn't! You don't have to defend Anderson, he won anyway because Chael has an obvious hole in his game. Doesn't change the fact that he dominated Silva for four rounds.

just some dong- February 7, 2011 at 11:45 am

@ Get Off Me

Yeah, there was plenty of BS surrounding their first fight, but there's no arguing that Sonnen came extremely close to beating Silva. Given Anderson's complete dominance in two weight classes, I feel that Sonnen deserves a rematch ASAP for his outstanding performance—legally enhanced or not. Otherwise the UFC has to leave the 185 strap unchallenged for quite a while, or throw Anderson in against another predictable win. Even if Silva dominates Chael, it would answer a lot of questions.

Get Off Me- February 7, 2011 at 11:44 am

@Karma
Testosterone is a steroid.
Testosterone replacement therapy is code for injecting steroid hormone to establish a "normal" level of testosterone in the human body where the level is below "normal" i.e. baby dick Sonnen was injecting steroids prior to his fight with Anderson Silva.
Much like Todd Duffee who is on HRT, I find there is no reason fighters should be injecting testosterone in their bodies.

Turd Furgeson- February 7, 2011 at 11:41 am

God bless you Chael Sonnen, you crazy bastard.

Dagnut- February 7, 2011 at 11:41 am

@mmafightjunkie....could not agree more. He went up in my estimation after the Sonnen fight not down...as I said in another thread he's not just a great fighter he's a top level sportsman...what marks him out from GSP IMO is exactly the sonnen fight we haven't seen GSP face real adversity and come back from a beating.
Sorry if people don't like him but he is the most complete fighter in the business.

RwilsonR- February 7, 2011 at 11:41 am

@ Get Off Me - Sonnen is a hypocrite asshole, but he did pound on Anderson for 22 minutes, and his 'cheating' was pretty much only a clerical error that the CSAC basically admitted. I think you can have further discussions about whether HRT should be allowed at all, but Sonnen's case was a failure to fill everything out correctly and notify everyone involved at the correct time. That shouldn't kick him out of the title picture, no matter how much everyone hates him.

ryangball- February 7, 2011 at 11:38 am

I actually don't want to see Chael fight at all. I do, however, think that Chael should do a bashing blog for fighters. Say a fight is coming up, just wreck shop verbally on both of them. That, I wouldn't mind seeing.

CZ- February 7, 2011 at 11:31 am

New blueprint: Kick him in the face.

I think someone just won a fuckin Tshirt!

KarmaAteMyCat- February 7, 2011 at 11:28 am

Sonnen wasn't on steRoids he was on Enhanced Testosterone treatment which he had a script for. I'm not saying I condone it but you can't play it off like he fucked up other then being caught in the triangle/Arm-bar AGAIN. Chael let the CSAC know FAR AHEAD OF TIME their the ones who fucked up. I'm not a Sonnen fan but I am certainly not going to skew the facts.

NinjaNerd8- February 7, 2011 at 11:28 am

Great to see the CP "journalists" playing fast and loose with the facts, as usual.

mmafightjunkie- February 7, 2011 at 11:19 am

I don't get why anyone thinks Sonnen can beat silva, silva shouldnt have even been fighting with the rib injury he had. I'm pretty sure he would of been able to armbar him in the first round. If you watch the fight there is several times it looks like he wants to roll for a armbar, I'm thinking the only reason he didnt was because his ribs were jacked. I'm not a huge silva fan, bu Sonnen is no where near the fighter silva is. He lost to Paulo filho for the wec championship by submission as well, a guy who has terrible standup, and he almost jumped right into the same situation several times in the rematch. A healthy silva kos or submits him first round.

"gave me the last page of your playbook" LOL. Dude, Silva still fucking won with cracked rib(s) on his first time fighting you. You ain't gonna mow shit, but the prison lawn. Go put your playbook together loser.

Get Off Me- February 7, 2011 at 11:13 am

@Loki
Merci, saved me some typing.

@Just some dong
"beat the tar" is overstating things just a little.
Sonnen on roids stayed in an injured Silva's guard for the better part of four rounds...not side control, not full mount or controlling his back, simply inside his guard.
Sadly a wrestler in a bjj's guys full guard will always win the fight if there is no successful submission applied, but every once and a while i.e. maia/sonnen the BJJ guy pulls it out.

Sonnen cheated, he should not be in the MW title picture until he wins more than one fight and pisses clean in the process.
The Vitor/Sonnen match in Rio is the one, plenty of back story(Vitor almost killed Linland, Chael talking shit about Vitor, South Americans wanting to see the ultra white Americano get his ass beat etc...) and I think it would be good towards legitimizing either fighter moving forward.

MKO- February 7, 2011 at 11:13 am

Did he see his shadow, or do we have to put up with six more weeks of bullshit?

djp1988- February 7, 2011 at 11:02 am

Shine on, you crazy bastard.

just some dong- February 7, 2011 at 10:57 am

When Sonnen inevitably returns, the UFC has just got to give him a rematch against Silva. The guy beat the tar out of him for 22 mins and just got caught at the end. No one has seen anything close to that kind of success against Silva in the UFC. Sonnen deserves another shot and I hope he's Silva's next opponent. GSP needs to beat Shields anyway, and then take time to bulk up to 185.

LET IT RAIN- February 7, 2011 at 10:56 am

who is this guy?

Videodrome_NOW- February 7, 2011 at 10:52 am

@LOKI
Thank you.

GILL-uh-TEEN- February 7, 2011 at 10:41 am

That dude loves a simile like a 5th grade foreign exchange student with two moms who takes remedial english at an inner-city public school that is overrun with gangs who have no regard for the law.

Paul Lazenby, any relation to George Lazenby? That guy studied with Bruce Lee.

LOKI- February 7, 2011 at 10:40 am

Chael vs. Vitor in Rio.

your welcome.

stewiegriffin- February 7, 2011 at 10:39 am

Chael sonnen needs to be made an example of by anderson. He's only talking crap so people don't start thinking of him as old news. He's a convicted criminal who's trying to avoid going to jail as with his low sperm production he'll obviously be the bitch in the inmate relationship.